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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cautious_Optimist who wrote (88997)	7/1/2012 4:38:02 PM
From: Hawkmoon	1 Recommendation Respond to of 89467

Brumar made a very logical and realistic assessment that Universal Health care will be exploited by con men and crooks. And this is evident from past experience, along with Welfare fraud.. etc.. But you ignored those fact and accuse him of hypothetical smears of medicare.. etc.. Message 28237731 All one has to do is a simple google search of "medicare fraud" to discover that his concerns are NOT hypothetical.. They are quite real. articles.latimes.com Just like the financial fraud that has been occurring on Wall St, and around the world, taxpayers are being put on the hook for fraud because they know that governmental officials are extremely lax at uncovering such fraud and seeking restitution and criminal penalties. The link above reflects only one major instance that is the tip of the iceberg. And then there are the cases when Medicare attempts to victimize those who are already victims. When victims of industrial "crimes", such as the Asbestos issues that claimed my father's life, utilize the Medicare system for treatment for their ailments, Medicare attempts to place a claim on their legal settlements rather than undertaking a separate legal claim against the companies that made such health care necessary. They attempted to do this in our wrongful death case, holding up a considerable portion of our settlement funds until they decided they had no right to any of the money (because exposure to Asbestos occurred prior to 1980, the date that was determined where victims could no longer claim "they didn't know"). I could never understand this.. I believe the gov't has every right to obtain separate compensation from the Asbestos companies for any medical costs incurred, but should not try to "hit up" the family members who have suffered the loss of their loved one. Yet, Medicare tied up our funds for almost a year with their bureaucracy; funds we needed to insure my mother was properly cared for. If Medicare wanted compensation for medical expenses it incurred, it should have permitted us to count those Medicare expenses as "economic damages" so we could sue on their behalf. They go after post 1980 exposed victims based upon not being able to claim "ignorance" of asbestos dangers, yet they completely fail to go after the companies who knew for decades that Asbestos was killing people. I don't even want to tell you how much my it cost to attempt to save my father's life.. but it was expensive, and ultimately, if failed.. But Medicare does nothing to attempt clawbacks from those guilty corporations to pay for the care that was provided, nor do they sue for malpractice or faulty medical devices. In my father's case, his surgery appeared to have been quite successful to remove the cancer and his right lung. But then a "pleural vac" device (costing $32), designed to drain fluids from his chest cavity through a "vacuum" malfunctioned and actually pumped air into his chest cavity, blowing him up like a balloon, leading to weeks of pneumonia, bacterial infections, and eventually.. renal failure. We wanted to sue the company that manufactured the device, but were told that since my father was already "terminal" due to his Mesothelioma diagnosis, the device manufactures would rely upon a "So What" defense.. Basically that, since my father was going to eventually die of his cancer, "So What" if their device failed? (BTW, my father could have lived for many years more.. ) We were furious, but could do nothing legally.. And the Government, which paid the bills on his care, didn't do anything either. I think that's a fraud perpetrated against the taxpayers, IMO. Hawk